Last week we ventured off to do what every music loving, London visitor does- walk across Abbey Road, as seen on the 1969 Beatles album cover, Abbey Road. However, we were sadly misguided by the tube stop on the DLR named Abbey Road. In fact so many people do this that there is a sign at the tube stop directing you to the real Abbey Road, the location of the crosswalk and the world famous Abbey Road Studios. We accepted our defeat and went home in the rain, but the next day redeemed our efforts.

We dodged cars and traffic to get the perfect walking picture imitating the Beatles’ pose on the cover. It was quite thrilling.

We made our mark on the wall of writing in front of Abbey Road Studios, and then found notebooks for sale with “Drexel University” written on the design amongst the clamor of wall writings left by visitors of days past.

This weekend we went to the Churchill War Rooms, an original World War II bunker that housed the British forces under Winston Churchill. This space aided the Allied Forces in winning the war. Again, I could feel all of the history in the corridors which made me feel very connected to the past.

After learning more about the Prime Minister’s role, we went to 10 Downing Street, where every British prime minister has lived since 1684. Understandably, the street was blocked off and we could only see down the way through gates and guards.

We wandered a little more finding ourselves in Trafalgar Square once again, next finding our way to Hungerford Bridge near Embankment station. (This bridge reminded me very much of the Bay Bridge in Northern California, which made me feel very at home!) We were able to cross the Thames to get to the London Eye, a 445 foot Ferris wheel, where we spent 30 minutes in a giant glass bubble with a view of the north side of the City of Westminster.

Sunday was spent exploring Harrods, which is truly a city of its own. There is everything imaginable in this monstrous department store including, but definitely not limited to an ice cream parlor, an entire food court, and a Star Wars exhibit. We spent nearly the entire day getting lost in the rooms whilst eating our sandwiches and pastries.

After we tired of seeing clothes for miles, we found the home of the famous Sherlock Holmes, 221B Baker Street. After that, we took the tube back to King’s Cross Station and waited an hour and a half to get to the front of the line to see the 9 ¾ Platform, famous to Harry Potter fans. Here you get to choose which house you wish to represent via scarf color and point a wand to the 9 ¾ sign whilst pushing Harry’s luggage cart through the brick wall to get to Hogwarts.

It was a long and exhausting weekend before starting our sure-to-be exhausting two week intensive at Laban.

We’ve learned a lot after living in London for a month, and it is truly getting better all the time!